The Brooktrails Board of Directors voted Tuesday to authorize raising sewer fees but will try to hold the line on water rates for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Brooktrails will hold public hearings on June 12 and June 26 before the final vote.

The annual sewer costs will increase from $636 to $739.08 or to $61.59 on a monthly basis. Brooktrails directors emphasized the increase is needed to pay the Brooktrails portion of the new Willits sewer plant.

In July 2011 Willits increased its sewer rates to $665 and is expected to max out at $739 by 2013.

Whether the board can hold water rates at the current level will depend upon the outcome of the ongoing litigation over the legitimacy of the 2010 passage of Measure D. A court ruling on Measure D is likely within the next two weeks, according to Brooktrails Council Chris Neary.

If Brooktrails loses the Measure D challenge, foreclosed properties and absentee homeowners will no longer be required to pay base rates and this lost revenue will need to be recovered from the rest of bill-paying water and sewer customers. The amount of increase needed will depend on the number of vacant homes.

There are several other financial issues placing fiscal pressure on the township. One is the continued inability by the district to get a long term loan to pay off the Roseman settlement.

The district has a loan from the US Department of Agriculture used to raise Lake Emily. When the district attempted to obtain a loan to finance the $265,000 Roseman settlement over time it discovered neither banks nor the USDA wanted to have their loan subordinate to the other.

Despite a series of six separate actions by the Brooktrails Board of Directors to satisfy the ever-changing USDA demands, including enhancing the original security cushion provided to the USDA for repayment, the USDA has to date refused to modify its stance. This has left the district with a three-month balloon loan with the Savings Bank of Mendocino County which it has been allowed to rollover.

The loan is once again due on April 27 and the Board agreed Tuesday night to immediately pay down the principal on the loan from $265,000 to $207,000 for this rollover. The district has already paid $12,000 in interest on the loan.

The board also authorized General Manager Mike Chapman to manage the district's cash flow with the intent to reduce the loan principal by another $100,000 by year end.

The budget approved by the board also includes an assumption the proposed new fire special tax measure passes on June 5.

The other significant unknown in the budget is whether Mendocino County keeps Brooktrails in the county's Teeter Plan and how many more property owners have failed to pay the 2011-2012 property taxes.